Luna-ized

An interview with Luna's Dean Wareham

by Mark Leta

Some of the neatest things can lurk in the darndest of places...

In that wee hours of the morning feel, hypnotic rhythms resolve themselves in the release of lush choruses. Under the drone of guitar, slight riffs and interesting instrumentation make themselves barley known, almost taunting the listener to try and hear more. Clever phrases take the everyday ordinary and turn them on end, evoking inevitable smiles in the process.

These are the trademarks of one of the fabulously best kept secrets in music today

-- Luna. Over the course of four albums, several EP's and singles, Luna has developed a distinct sound that is both refreshing and exciting. Led by the charismatic Dean Wareham, the band creates music in textured layers, each of which boasts interesting surprises. It may take a few listens, but they eventually surface as joyful bits of sound from the song's depths where they lurk.

Wareham's vision for Luna's sound most certainly began with his earlier, critically acclaimed band Galaxie 500. In that outfit sparsely beautiful guitar arrangements hinted at, and drew comparisons to, the likes of the Velvet Underground, and helped the band stand out from the pack.

In the wake of that band's demise, Wareham put together a seasoned lot in the form of ex-Feelies drummer Stanley Demeski, ex-Chills bassist Justin Harwood, and a Canadian guitarist by the name of Sean Eden. This group, with the replacement of Demeski by Lee Wall on drums, continues to deliver critically-acclaimed albums that rock.

In Dec. 1997, Grip had the opportunity to chat with Dean on the band's sound, their current album Pup Tent, touring with the Velvet Underground, recent projects and their then-impending East Coast tour.

Grip Monthly Concerning Luna's sound, I would describe Luna's music as witty, dreamy, layered, rockin', and deceptively detailed, with the joys being most found in the subtleties. Does this description need any editing?

Dean Wareham No, that's fine. (laughs) Good job.

Grip I'm always curious to see what an artist thinks about a writer's response to their sound.

Wareham I guess those are mostly words I've heard before - its always tough when someone says to me, "would you describe the sound?' - that's the toughest question.

Grip Right.

Wareham I just refuse. (laughs)

Grip How does Luna's sound on the record compare with what we can expect to hear live on stage?

Wareham It's pretty different live. We rock out more live. You know, we don't have the luxury of bringing all the extra instrumentation with us. So we have to make more noise. (laughs)

Grip It seems that sonically you did make more noise on Pup Tent, and that this is actually a louder record than its predecessor Penthouse...

Wareham That's true... at times it is. On the first song... on a couple of songs it is.

Grip To me Penthouse feels more like 3 a.m., where as Pup Tent feels more like 10 p.m.

Wareham Huh? (laughs)

Grip Did you set out to do that this time?

Wareham God, I don't remember what the hell we set out to do. We talked a little bit about bringing more energy to it, making it seem a little more live... but I don't think it is that at all, I just think its more varied.

Grip I see.

Wareham I guess there is all kinds of stuff on there... We had a producer this time from beginning to end, which we hadn't done in a long time, that was new for us. He was interested in creating extra textures, that was his emphasis... you know, not on just on drums and guitars, which he found boring.

Grip I noticed that this was the first album where you repeated producers.

Wareham Yeah, well actually Pat (McCarthy) just mixed our last record really. Mixed it, and we gave him a co-production credit because he actually changed a lot of it as well.

Grip While being a little bit louder on this record, did you find it hard to keep in the subtleties, that seem to me anyways, integral to Luna's unique sound?

Wareham Well, we spent a long, long time, like three and a half months, and for us that was ridiculous. (laughs) And it is a very layered and textured record, so I think there are a lot of subtle things in there... sonically things that at a low level you might not notice at first.

Grip Right. It actually took me a couple of listens to really pick out some of the neat intricate things that I thought were really cool about the record.

Wareham Yes, It will be that way.

Grip I'd like to ask you about a particular track... What's the story behind 'Fuzzy Wuzzy'?

Wareham The story behind 'Fuzzy Wuzzy'... (as if reeling through the archives of his brain)...

Grip It sounds like maybe you set out to make either like a psychedelic song, or maybe even sort of a parody on a psychedelic song.

Wareham (laughs) yeah... well, it wasn't a parody, it was just kind of a jam. Like we have a demo version of that which is pretty good. It's just sort of a shuffle, and just sort of a long drawn-out guitar jam. Then when Pat heard it, he felt we should try and sequence it, try and make a little more sense of it and actually build in on a sort of a sequenced drum and keyboard track. The keyboard is pretty quiet, but it actually sort of started on the computer, and then we put the drums down on top of it, and guitars, and then its sort of just a free-form freakout. Its kind of arranged careful at the end - in sections - like the Strings section, and the Scottish-Highland section where the elves are dancing around the fire. (laughs) If you know what I'm talking about...

Grip Yeah, I do. Have you found that you've used more computer type recording as you've gone along?

Wareham Well we did this time, we used the computer a little bit on this record. Like on 'Fuzzy Wuzzy'... well the computer is attached to the mixing desk, we've always done that.

Grip I mean like actual drum loops and that sort of thing...

Wareham Yeah, well we built a drum loop on 'IHOP,' not on the computer, we did it on a two-inch tape machine.

Grip Oh cool.

Wareham We don't know much about computers. (laughs) There is some sampled instruments on a few of the songs though...

Grip What track are you most happy with on the album?

Wareham Probably the title track.

Grip 'Pup Tent'... huh. I remember reading that you have a really nifty studio set up at home.

Wareham Its pretty small, is the only problem.

Grip Did it see any action in the making of Pup Tent?

Wareham Just for practice. That's funny because we always talked about that, Pat our producer is always saying, "yeah, you should take an ADAT home and you know, put some guitar tracks down and bring them back that way,' and in reality it didn't work out... he had to be there for everything. But I would bring tapes home and sit and work in my studio and try to come up with melodies, and stuff like that.

Grip Are you particularly fond of recording at home there?

Wareham I'm not a very good engineer. That's what I think. But you know, I made a record at home - the Cagney and Lacey project - and I'll make demos in there, but you know its always more fun to play with real musicians than to sit at home with a drum machine... That's what I hate, is drum machines.

Grip Concerning your lyrics... I'm always struck by some of the curiously-funny lines that you come up with for Luna songs such as, "tiger lily girl standing cross-eyed in the corner.' I thought that was great!

Wareham You thought that was funny huh?

Grip Yeah. What do you draw on for lyrical ideas?

Wareham Books, newspapers, films, my own life, other people's lives... I tend to take notes on all kinds of things... well, not all year round. When we start to make a record, then I become more focused and aware [of lyrics]. I try to come up with a few lines everyday to throw into the pot.

Grip So you don't actually just sit down and concentrate, they just sort of pop into your head and you jot them down?

Wareham Yeah... well at a certain point you have to sit down and concentrate. You have to sit down with a song and a melody - that's sort of the way I do it - and then go looking through my notes and try to find things that fit with a mood, or a structure. Its kind of a random method of working.

Grip A lot has been written about the influence of your old band on modern music. What do you think it was about the Galaxie 500 that draws such high laurels?

Wareham I don't really think that we were like influential. I think that we were very unique and different, and doing our own thing... which was interesting and part of why the band has stood the test of time. I think we didn't sound like all the other bands at the time, but I really don't think that we were influential. I mean I guess there are some bands who cite the Galaxie 500 as an influence.

Grip Right. Do you still keep up with Damon and Naomi?

Wareham Only via fax... the fax machine.

Grip Back in 1993 Luna got the opportunity to tour with the Velvet Underground..

Wareham Yes.

Grip...and that you actually had Sterling Morrison in to play on two Bewitched tracks. What were those experiences like?

Wareham It was a lot of fun doing that tour. I just felt lucky to have really excellent seats to see them every night, you know? But it was only for two and a half weeks, maybe three in Europe. It was short, but I will always remember it, and I did get to meet Sterling and I became very friendly with him. And having him in the studio was great too. Just listening to him play, you realized what a crucial part of their sound he was.

Grip I've read that he was somewhat unrecognized...

Wareham He was very modest about his playing... we'll you know he stopped playing for like 20 years, I'm sure he still played, but he stopped making records anyway.

Grip Right.

Wareham He got a little burned out on the whole thing. He seemed like maybe he was starting to get back into it again... when he got sick.

Grip Do you find the comparisons between your music and the Velvets' tiresome, or at all accurate at this point?

Wareham Oh yeah! I find them tiresome. I just don't think they are that accurate, but whatever... and certainly not at this point. I don't think that if you sent Pup Tent out blindly to music critics that they would come up with that. At this point it's just the easy thing to say about the band.

Grip Right.

Wareham Everyone needs an angle. you know? And maybe the band's music is difficult to categorize, an easier thing to stick under a photo.

Grip I'd have to say that one of my favorite Luna tracks is on Penthouse, the cover of Serge Gainsbourg's 'Bonnie and Clyde,' that you did with Laetitia Sadier. How did that come about?

Wareham We're all on the same label, Stereolab and Luna... actually I've known them for a long, long time, since about 1988. But the guy who signed both bands, he wanted me to do a song with Laetitia...

Grip Cool.

Wareham ...and she suggested 'Bonnie and Clyde.' We did all the music, she helped me with my pronunciations (laughs), and it turned out great, it really did.

Grip Do you actually speak French?

Wareham Well, high school French, I don't speak French, no. I can get through lunch, but I wouldn't recognize everything on the menu.(laughs)

Grip Stereolab, as well as such groups as the High Llamas, and the Coctails have recently been lumped together in what the media has seen as a resurgence of elaborate 60's pop structures.

Wareham Right, what was the third band you put in there?

Grip I put the Coctails in there.

Wareham The Coctails?

Grip Yeah, the Coctails.

Wareham They don't exist anymore do they?

Grip No they don't... but you know the sound a-la Serge Gainsburg, Burt Bacharach, and Brian Wilson. Besides the obvious connection with Stereolab, and the Gainsburg cover you did, do you see Luna's music as any part of that?

Wareham Not quite. We're still sort of a rock and pop band, I think. Stereolab is an interesting example of a band, and the High Llamas also maybe even more so, of a band where you hear things and you go, "oh, that's bossa nova that comes from here, or that comes from this Suicide song, or that sounds like this particular Beach Boys thing, and yet despite that they're still completely original. I think Stereolab maybe are partially responsible for a resurgence of interest in Esquevel, and the lounge thing.

Grip Right.

Wareham I think a lot of bands feel more of a blind devotion to that stuff than I do... I feel like a lot of that stuff is crap. Well not Esquivel, he's like genius, you have to sort of pick through it to find the stuff that is captivating. I mean there are all these lounge records coming from all over the world. Some of its good... when there's an interesting personality behind it, I think its good. Some of it's just dumb.

Grip I actually just listened to Esquivel's Christmas album the other day and thought it was fantastic.

Wareham Yeah? I haven't heard that one.

Grip Its pretty cool. I want to steer the conversation now towards soundtracks. I read that Luna has been working on the soundtrack for the next Noah Baumbach film.

Wareham Yes, we did that already.

Grip How did that come about?

Wareham I guess the music supervisor on the movie must have suggested us. I don't know. I met Noah, we had dinner a few times, and we hit it off. I had actually also seen Kicking and Screening, and really liked it.

Grip I thought that was a fantastic film.

Wareham Yeah, I know people who hate it, but I loved it. So, it was a good match I think, though I haven't seen the film with the music in it. We were away in Europe - we finished it and then went off on tour. I think he's real happy with it, and actually he made another film right after he made... - this film is called Mr. Jealousy - right when he finished it, he made another one called High Ball, and I'm music supervising that one.

Grip Nice!

Wareham It's a real low budget film. It's the low budget film he never made, and actually I'm trying to get some Cocktails music into it, so there you go we've come full circle! (laughs) I was really surprised you mentioned them earlier.

Grip I understand that your contribution to Mr. Jealousy was music written just for the action on screen, as opposed to prewritten songs.

Wareham Yeah, well we also did a cover of 'Jealous Guy' by John Lennon. He wanted that because the film is called Mr. Jealousy. But it's not really songs, its more just score.

Grip Is that the first time you've done that?

Wareham Yes it is, and it was quite hard work

.

Grip This is sort of my miscellaneous category... I've noticed your cover songs have always been really eclectic. Do your covers reflect your own record collection?

Wareham Yeah, I guess so. We don't cover songs we hate.(laughs) Some people do that you know, funny punk versions of stupid songs - we don't do that. It's always things that we like, whether it be Wire or Lee Hazlewood.

Grip What's one of the gems that we might find in your record collection?

Wareham One of the gems... Do you know Nina Simone at all? I have this record here Here Comes The Sun, its one of my favorite records.

Grip I'll have to check that out.

Wareham It's very hard to find, you see it on vinyl sometimes...

Grip I once heard that tarot cards were responsible for naming Luna...

Wareham That's not true... It's in the bio, and it got sent out to people, but it was in fact a lie. That bio was written by Grasshopper from Mercury Rev.

Grip So you don' use tarot cards to determine anything else? (laughs)

Wareham No.

Grip Okay. Since its the holidays, I was wondering what dish you might be bringing or recommend bringing to a holiday gala?

Wareham What dish... I really don't know how to cook much... maybe rice pudding?

Grip Rice pudding? (laughs)

Wareham Its not really right at all though, is it? Egg nog, I'll say egg nog. You can make one egg nog at a time you know. Just whip up some cream, egg white, sugar, and some bourbon... its easy.

Grip I guess the last question is what's next for Luna? I understand your on tour?

Wareham Well we're not really on tour. We were going to be on tour, but now were just doing some scattered dates. Actually, we're gonna start writing songs for another record... already, I can't believe it. But there is another single being worked at radio, Bobby Peru supposedly. We'll see what happens.

Grip And then you'll be heading into the studio sometime in 98'?

Wareham Yeah, our intent is to get another record out by September. I don't know if its possible, but that's what we're shooting for. That means you got to finish it by June.